HERSTORY

“Be honest, follow your instincts, work really hard, and just be yourself.“

Final and fourth post in a series featuring “Getting Further with Honey” An Oral History of a Successful Female Vice President.  Recorded and dictated in 1997……  

The last three weeks have detailed the “herstory” of the first ever female Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company from 1997.  Her honest and vulnerable stories still ring true today.  I hope her bravery and brutal honesty have made you laugh, reflect and consider…  “What will my story be?”.

In this final reflection on her thoughts from 1997, she shares advice for a woman pursuing a career and family.  Her words could be considered as slightly controversial in this day and time, but I cannot help but share what we may all be thinking and only she was brave enough to say all those years ago.

“Be aggressive with class and with poise and don’t try to talk louder or faster than the next person, just be yourself.  The biggest thing people do is try to be something that they are not, but you always have to back it up with your homework… always take that extra time to deliver over and beyond what they are expecting. 

For a woman in the business world in 1997 it helps to be attractive, that will get you in the door but from there you have to prove yourself from that point on.  You can use attractiveness as long as you use it to the point before it becomes something negative, there is a fine line, don’t go over the edge.  Having sex appeal is great, being sleazy is not.

Be honest, follow your instincts, work really hard, and just be yourself.  It all sounds very Pollyanna but it is not, it really has worked for me and I think that it would work for you.

I wish I would have known that eventually what comes around goes around.  I wasted a lot of brain power over why are they still here and why did they just get promoted when I knew that they were not all about the right things.  I wish I would have believed and known that eventually, whether it is ten years or ten months from now, it will catch up with them.  The way you behave, there is consequences, you can’t behave a certain way and not expect consequences.” 

As I revisited this paper from so many years ago, I thought about where this 64-year-old woman is today.  What was the trajectory of her career?  Did she make difficult career and family decisions along the way?  Did she know that she was brave all those years ago?  Is she surprised that not a whole lot has changed in 24 years?  A short search to locate her was unsuccessful.  In just 17 years, I will be wherever she is today.  What difference or significant impact will I have made? 

 In my final question to her during our interview, I asked her how she was different now versus when she had graduated from college.  Her answer has stuck with me, I believe it will stick with you too.

The difference between what I am now and what I was when I began is that I was naïve, but yet no one would have ever described me as naïve.  Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie, like Dorothy I really went in wide-eyed and hopeful and now I am very much no longer like that.

All these years later, I am also no longer naïve, wide-eyed or hopeful either.  I have become determined, driven, passionate and slightly exhausted.